Chunk of ice from sky slams into Fremont home

(06-11) 22:26 PDT FREMONT — A chunk of ice that tore through the roof of a Fremont home Sunday evening may have plunged from an airplane, authorities said Monday.

The basketball-size piece of ice landed on a home on Wichitaw Drive in the Warm Springs neighborhood about 6 p.m., shaking the house, the homeowner told police.

No one was injured, but the ice damaged a “manhole cover-sized” area of the roof, police said. It did not penetrate the interior of the two-story, four-bedroom home belonging to Rong Zhang, 44, and her family.

“We were inside the house, and we heard a big sound – boom,” Zhang told reporters. “And our house shaked. So we don’t know what’s going on. So we run outside.”

Daniel Handjojo, who lives next door, said Monday that his 15-year-old son, Joshua, and 10-year-old daughter were outside playing basketball when they saw the ice fall from the sky. “There’s a good-sized hole on the roof,” he said.

Joshua Handjojo said, “It was kind of like a loud clanking noise.” At first, he said he thought someone might have hurled something that broke through the roof.

“I’m pretty surprised, but also curious to see where this ice came from. I’m also very thankful that no one was injured in the process. Someone could have gotten really severely injured. We’re so lucky that didn’t happen.”

If federal officials can confirm that a plane was responsible and determine which one it was, they will notify the airline to check for any leaks in the plane’s water system, Gregor said.

Radar tracks reviewed by The Chronicle show several planes passing over the home around the time the ice landed, including a Skywest E-120 commuter jet arriving from Modesto and a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 coming from Atlanta.

The ice probably didn’t come from an airplane lavatory because such ice is usually blue, Gregor said. An FAA safety inspector visited the home shortly after the incident and confirmed that the ice was clear, he said.